


aemulatio

by TheQueenInTheNorth



Series: tumblr au meme [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, not cute family stuff AT ALL sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 02:08:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7916272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenInTheNorth/pseuds/TheQueenInTheNorth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bellatrix is glad the timetraveler stopped the Dark Lord's fall. She's annoyed when the girl sticks around. /another au meme that doesn't really go with the others/</p>
            </blockquote>





	aemulatio

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gordis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gordis/gifts).



> the prompt: Delphie succeeds in 1981 and becomes Voldemort's right-hand woman. Only...Bellatrix becomes bitterly jealous of the new girl.

**pique**

1) Bellatrix is relieved when her lord returns, and grateful to the girl that stopped him. That prophecy just didn't sit well with her.

(He'd told _her_ she was being silly when she'd aksed him to reconsider. _You have a_ bad feeling _about it?_ His mocking tone still rings in her ears. She bites back any comment. He's fine, and it could have gone horrendously wrong from what Delphie says, and who stopped him doesn't really matter.

She tries to believe that.)

2) "Would you like to do the honours, pet?"

Bella averts her gaze from Snape just long enough to smile at the Dark Lord."Do you really have to ask?"

He smiles at her, steps closer, hand on her waist, his breath warm against her ear."You know, there's a few spells I've been curious to see interact."

"My pleasure,"she purrs, attention still fixed on the traitor at her feet.

("Not looking that brave, is he?"

Bella looks up sharply as Delphie speaks. She'd forgotten the girl was there. She resents the reminder that she is. She resents the reminder that this isn't happening on her advice.)

3) Delphie adores her mother. So much so that she is blind to the other woman's disfavour. She wants to accompany her on missions, learn new spells from her, spend as much time as possible with her.

Every time the Dark Lord sends them out together, every time she calls her _Mother_ , every time she's just that little bit too excited that makes Bella think she's trying to play her - every time, Bellatrix swallows down her resentment, allowing it to fester and grow.

4) The missions they share soon become less of a problem. It's the missions the both ask for. The missions he gives to Delphie rather than Bellatrix. He doesn't even seem to think anything of it. The girl's just become his immediate thought when he needs a difficult task done well.

(That probably hurts most of all.)

5) "Brilliant,"he says, as she finishes explaining her plan, looking over the maps and notes she brought him."Simply brilliant, Bella."

She beams at him as he rolls up the parchments and gets up."I'll see what Delphie thinks of the matter."

The smile slides off her face. He doesn't notice.

**maternal**

1)"Bella, I'd like you to do that."

Bellatrix fights down the smirk. She hasn't even had time to ask for the assignment yet. Then the Dark Lord turns to Delphie."You go with your mother, Delphie."

2) "I hate her,"Bellatrix confesses in a whisper."I hate her so much."

"You don't,"Rodolphus says, reasonable as always."She's your daughter, Bella."

Bellatrix scoffs."Or so she says."

He sighs heavily."The Dark Lord believes her. That should be good enough for you."

He's right. It doesn't help.

3) Delphie's talking, happy and much too companionable for Bella's taste. She cuts her off with a sneer."Stop calling me that."

She hesitates, confusion painted across her face."Call you what, Mother?"

"That." She crosses her arms, and for one fleeting, absurd moment truly feels as if she's chastising a child."Mother. I don't like it."

"Oh,"Delphie breathes, soft and sad and entirely more crestfallen than the situation truly warrants, as far as Bellatrix is concerned."Father doesn't mind. I'm sorry, Mo - I'm sorry, Bellatrix."

4) Cissa is smiling fondly, looking over at Delphie, who is very seriously responding to Draco's indistinguishable babbling."Your girl is a sweetheart, Bella. I'm thrilled you've come to your senses."

"You do realise that I didn't actually have her, Cissa, don't you?" It comes out angrier than she intended. Her sister looks shocked. Bella forces herself to smile."Oh, don't give me that look. You know what I think of children."

"Then isn't it wonderful you got her all grown up already?"

Cissa truly means that. Bella wishes everyone would stop.

5) "I just find it funny,"Bellatrix says, never having sounded so unamused in her life,"that she's still here." The Dark Lord sighs, pointedly keeping his attention on his book. Bella's unperturbed."If she's really your daughter -"

"Our,"he corrects absently, and Bellatrix flushes with delight. His insistence on this distinction is the one good thing to come out of this mess. It doesn't sidetrack her, though."Yes, yes, of course. Shouldn't she have vanished? Erased herself by changing the future?"

"Time paradoxes are a complex matter,"he admits, finally looking up from his book."We don't exactly have a frame of reference for this, so who's to say what would happen?"

Bella rolls her eyes."You just want to believe her because you like the idea."

"Evidence is on her side." Now he's scowling at her."She's a very powerful witch, a Metamorphmagus, a Parselmouth -"

"That doesn't prove anything,"Bella cuts him off."If you want a kid so badly, I have a uterus I don't currently need for anything else."

It was meant to make him shut up, really, and he does fall silent, but he looks intrigued rather than annoyed.

(That wasn't her aim. She's rather more flattered than she'd like to admit.)

**scheme**

1) If the Dark Lord can't be convinced to get rid of Delphie, that just means she has to do it herself.

Well, Bellatrix has never shied away from a challenge.

2) She lets her complaints and suspcions peter out. She is as civil to Delphie as she can make herself. She doesn't advice against the girl anymore, nor point out the inconsistencies she finds in her stories.

3) Bellatrix knows there's only one way to be rid of the girl, and that's to make sure she comes to a sticky end.

It takes her much longer than she'd hoped to get it all perfectly right so that no blame can fall on her.

(The Dark Lord will be upset, of course, Bella thinks, absently rubbing her stomach, but she already has a replacement in the works for him.)

4) Curses go astray in battle all the time. Bellatrix isn't even entirely sure it actually was her spell that shattered Delphie's ribs, forced shards into her lungs, made her fall down like a bag of lead. She _thinks_ it was her spell, but it doesn't matter either way.

(Maybe it's better for her not to be certain. She'll have to lie to the Drak Lord about it later, and it's easier if he senses as little falsehood as possible.)

5) Delphie reaches out feebly, a soft whisper that might have been _Help_ or might have been _Mother._ She looks far more heartrending than Bellatrix anticipated.

Well, she can give her this, at least. She gathers Delphie into her arms, kisses her forehead, whispers soothingly."It's okay. Mama's got you. It's okay, Delphie, Mama's here."

Delphie dies with a smile on her face. Bella's surprised to find herself crying.


End file.
